Homeless problem.

Recent news coverage involving the discharge of homeless patients from hospitals in Los Angeles has ignored a fundamental fact.

This community has failed to provide safe housing options for these vulnerable individuals.

In Los Angeles County, there are currently only 45 recuperative (post-hospital) shelter beds available for an estimated homeless population 80,000--the second largest homeless population in the nation. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Los Angeles spends less than $1 per capita on homelessness, as compared to $3 per capita in Chicago, $8 per capita in Boston and $13 per capita in Seattle.

It's misleading for the news media to only focus on one side of the story. There is no question that a few recently publicized incidents involving the discharge of homeless patients from area hospitals were disturbing. These situations should not have happened. But to make hospitals the scapegoat for a much larger societal issue is unfair.

Officials are charging the medical community with negligence when in fact local governments are failing to address the underlying issue--the lack of shelter beds, particularly for homeless individuals who no longer need the expensive care of hospitals but do need someone to keep an eye on them as they recover.

It is time to address the totality of issues facing those who are homeless in Los Angeles and to stop asking the impossible. It is a problem that needs a collaborative solution-not the criminalizing of hospitals and dedicated staff.

W. June Simmons

Chief Executive

Partners in Care Foundation

San Femando